Super Bowl Weekend System Will Bring Snow to the Rockies, Plains, Midwest and East

Snow will spread from the Rockies across the Plains, Midwest, Appalachians and Northeast this Super Bowl weekend, potentially making travel a challenge in some spots.

Into Sunday morning, snow will affect parts of the Ohio Valley and Northeast while continuing in the Rockies, northern Plains and Great Lakes. Some light freezing rain, sleet or snow may fall in the southern Appalachians and adjacent piedmont.

Up to 7 inches of snow had fallen in Indian River, Michigan, as of Saturday evening, with 6.5 inches reported in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, and 6 inches near Hogeland, Montana.

The setup for this round of snow features a sharp southward plunge of the polar jet stream into the central and eastern U.S. Embedded in that jet stream are a number of disturbances that help generate lift in the atmosphere to give rise to areas of precipitation, such as snow.

Low pressure at the surface will also sweep from the Great Lakes into the Northeast.

Fortunately, a second area of low pressure forming off the Virginia Tidewater late Sunday won't strengthen much at all, precluding a much heavier snowstorm, the likes of which are well documented in February.

The National Weather Service has issued various winter weather advisories, winter storm watches and winter storm warnings for this new storm system in the northern Rockies.

Winter weather advisories have also been issued from New York state to northeastern Georgia for the chance of snow, sleet and freezing rain into Sunday. This includes the Washington D.C. and Baltimore metro areas.

Sunday, a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain may persist in the southern Appalachians and adjacent piedmont, with snow stretching from the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley into the interior Northeast and parts of New England.

Sunday night, with low pressure tracking inland over the Northeast, the most solid area of snow will continue to fall over the interior Northeast, from the eastern Great Lakes and Appalachians to northern Maine.

Given this track, rain should be the dominant precipitation type along the Interstate 95 corridor Sunday and Sunday night.

Overall, snowfall in most of the Plains and Midwest should be light to moderate in nature, under 6 inches in most areas.

Some of the Lake Superior and Lake Michigan snowbelts may see higher totals thanks to lake-enhancement of the snow.

Parts of the northern High Plains of Montana and perhaps far western South Dakota may see higher amounts, as well. A separate storm system will bring more snow to the northern Rockies later Sunday into Monday.

Given the inland track of the first low-pressure system, the lack of intensification of the offshore low and the overall system's quick movement, this snowfall will not be another Winter Storm Grayson of roughly one month ago.

That said, parts of the interior Northeast may squeeze out 6 inches or more of snow through Sunday night. The best chance of these heavier totals will be in the Appalachians, Catskills, Adirondacks, Green and White mountains and the Longfellow Mountains.

In general, though, this will be a modest snow event in most of the interior Northeast. As mentioned earlier, while some light snow may fall briefly along parts of the Interstate 95 urban corridor, rain is expected to dominate the Boston-Washington D.C. corridor in this event.